Prison term for armed standoff

Drug and alcohol abuse were blamed for an Adrian man’s armed standoff at his Renfrew Avenue home when he was sentenced to a one- to two-year prison term Thursday in Lenawee County Circuit Court.

“Something happened. Something was going on. I tried to get help,” said Shawn Julies Gauss, 37. “I’m very sorry. I thank God that nobody got hurt.”

Gauss holed up in the basement of his home on Feb. 23 and threatened to shoot police during a 13-hour standoff. It ended when he was knocked unconscious by a tear gas cannister that was fired into the home and struck him in the head.

“Drugs and alcohol obviously played a major role in the incident,” said defense attorney William Hackett of Dearborn Heights. “My client has indicated he wants to get treatment for this problem.”

Gauss said he did not understand that alcoholism is a disease until he began a counseling program in jail.

He had dealt with substance abuse problems on his own in the past, said Hackett, and had eight years of sobriety before relapsing in 2012.

Gauss pleaded no contest on Aug. 28 to charges of felonious assault, malicious destruction of police property and a misdemeanor of discharging a firearm within city limits. Judge Timothy P. Pickard found him guilty of the charges after reviewing police reports of the standoff.

The incident began with a call to Adrian police of an attempted suicide at Gauss’ home.

“The defendant indicated he didn’t think he could kill himself and he was going to force the police officers to kill him,” Pickard read from the reports at the plea hearing. He warned officers “to expect a war” if they came inside where he was waiting with an SKS rifle loaded with a 40-round clip.

Gauss fired a round when an Adrian police officer entered the house. He later shot and damaged a robot sent into the house by a Michigan State Police emergency services tactical team.

Hackett told the court Thursday that when Gauss is sober he is known as trustworthy and reliable. His family continues to support him, Hackett said, and his fiancee “is going to stand by him.” He also has three children he is responsible for, Hackett told the court.